Happy Spring! The year is off to a great start for Team Serra and we hope the same for you. From the Ag Tech Summit to Serra's own Investor Summit to rubbing elbows with Hobby Lobby's founder and CEO, we've enjoyed expanding our circle of relationships and opportunities. Read on for a recap of each of these events and more in this month's News Snapshot.

Tim Hoerr, Dennis Beard, and Drew Beard all attended the Chicago Farmers Event on March 10, presenting to a distinguished group of individuals connected to the agriculture ecosystem.

Chicago has a long history of agricultural involvement. Those ties continue today through trading institutions that shape world markets, as well as the myriad of agribusiness and food companies that call the Chicago metropolitan region their home.

This tradition of agricultural involvement also continues through The Chicago Farmers. Founded in 1935, the purpose of the Club is to advance production, agriculture, and agribusiness. This non-profit, non-partisan organization provides information, educational programs, and a forum for discussing issues to members and others interested in agriculture efficiency and competitiveness in a global economy.

The Chicago Farmers membership profile consists of farmland owners and operators, agribusiness leaders, farm management professionals, farm real estate consultants, and those from other affiliated businesses. The common thread throughout the membership is an interest in agribusiness and the promotion of agriculture in general.

Tim and Venture Partner David Hodge attended A Day with David Green sponsored by Legacy Stone at the Hobby Lobby corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City on March 12 and 13.

David Green, CEO and founder of Hobby Lobby built the company from a $600 investment into a multi-billion enterprise. David spoke fondly of the role his spouse of 64 years, Barbara, had in advising him on difficult decisions and supporting his risk-taking.

The two-day event included a tour of the corporate HQ, including the "model store" that is used as a template for rolling out initiatives across the country. The experience offered some key insights from the two-day event with business leaders and entrepreneurs including:

• Maintaining humility and a posture of serving our customers, employees and vendors is key to thriving in the long run

• Taking calculated risks along the way can lead to significant momentum and growth

• Admitting mistakes and learning from them opens the door for better decisions in the future

• Balancing competing "high priorities" is complicated -- for example, paying your employees well while achieving sustainable profit margins

• Integrating our faith into business is important as it creates the framework for building a successful business

"The event was refreshing and insightful. Hearing David's numerous stories from multiple decades of growing the business was very encouraging. He shared with transparency, humility and a real love for humanity," commented Tim.

During the first week of March, the University of Illinois Research Park hosted the Ag Tech Summit, which included the Ag and Food Regional Competition for the Startup World Cup. Serra Ventures is a proud sponsor of the competition which gave 10 entrepreneurs (selected from over 100 applicants) the opportunity to showcase their ideas at the AgTech Summit. Major highlights of this event include Serra Venture Partner Karin O’Connor as a judge in the competition and one of Champaign's own ag tech companies, EarthSense, the ultimate winner. Earnest Agriculture, one of Serra’s Illinois Ag Tech Accelerator companies, was in the 10 companies competing.

The Startup World Cup is a global series of startup competitions powered by Pegasus Tech Ventures. The competition culminates in a Grand Finale on October 17, 2025, where the top startups from each region will compete for a $1 million investment prize. Here's wishing EarthSense the best as they vie for the top prize!

The Ag Tech Summit included presentations and panels on a variety of topics, and it was attended by over 600 participants. An exciting highlight for Team Serra was Boston Bioprocess receiving the Ed Moore Agricultural Innovation Award - which included a large cash prize. Boston Bio is a graduate of the Illinois AgTech Accelerator Powered by Serra Ventures. Congrats to co-founders Michael Tai and Ted Netland (pictured below)!

As part of the AgTech Summit that took place the following day, Serra hosted its own Investor Summit with a full day of activities. The brainchild of Jack Marck (the Executive Director of the Illinois Ag Tech Accelerator Powered by Serra Ventures), the event took place at Serra's HQ in downtown Champaign. The agenda included curated networking opportunities with breakout sessions, a tour of the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Lab at the University of Illinois, and a discussion facilitated by Tim Hoerr and Dennis Beard on the topic of Exploring Liquidity for LPs. The successful event was capped off with a cocktail hour sponsored by our good friends at the Michael Best law firm.

The event was attended by 20 individuals both local and from afar. It was a fantastic day of networking and learning, and also fun! Mark your calendars for next year's Serra Investor Summit coming in March 2026!

• AgTools and iUNU Make FoodTech 500 List

• Earth Optics’ Predictive Ag Report promises a deep dive into ag data

• Hazel Technologies’ BreatheWay® membrane technology fully eliminates the need for ice during transportation

• Teren Launches Terevue to Revolutionize Environmental Risk Management for Infrastructure Operators With Real-Time Geospatial Intelligence

• Whitefox Defense Technologies Announces Steve Haro as Chief Operating Officer